1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and method for recycling oil laden waste or used materials, and in particular to the reclamation of used or spent oil filters.
2. Prior Art
Oil filters as used in most internal combustion engines are used to clean the oil as it circulates therethrough. A typical oil filter is made up of a metal canister within which some form a porous media or paper like materials are therein contained. In addition to the metal and porous media a typical oil filter also contains an elastomeric seal and, in some cases, plastics that are used within the filter. Because oil filters need to be changed often the disposal of the filters has become a major environmental problem. Recycling the filter is not an easy task, and thus, most of such waste has been heretofore disposed in landfills. Since the oil filter is not biodegradable this presents additional environmental problems. As a result, government regulations now require some form of environmental disposal. The lubrication service businesses and others are therefore faced with no easy method of recycling or disposing of the oil filters.
Many of the prior art oil filter recycling operations do not consider the total recycling possibilities of the products that go to make up the filter. Many systems have as their prime objective simply to remove or clean the oil from the steel filter container and then dispose in some manner the paper filter medium. In many instances this wastes a large percentage of the oil simply burned in after burners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,079 of E. Park Guymon has proposed a process for removing oil from the oil filters by washing the oil filters while simultaneously crushing the metal outer case. This process involves the effective removal of the residual oil from the water, and cleaning the washed water with surfactants for recycling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,176 issued to John Barber teaches a method of recycling oil filters by first shredding the filter, which is subsequently placed in an oven or other form of thermal unit wherein the shredded metal particles are separated from the ash and recycled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,165 of Raymond P. Jackman describes a system for recycling and treating used oil filters by a shredding and washing procedure.